Page 44 of Silver Hills' Christmas Miracle

Aaron lay at my feet as I came to a stop, panting. The collapsing barn had missed him by a hair's breadth.

Kitty was nowhere to be seen.

19

KITTY

The ground disappeared beneath my feet and I plummeted down a few feet, landing on soft, soggy ground. Above me, wood and metal creaked and groaned and as something heavy thumped down, a cloud of dust exploded into the small space I’d become trapped in.

I lay there, utterly frozen and terrified. Aaron, in his stupidity, had pulled me toward the barn because of some rain. A barn I told him was dangerous to be near, but rather than listen to me, he insisted and grabbed me once again.

Holy. Shit.

I remained there for a few long seconds, trying to process exactly how this had happened. I knew the barn was weak. Melanie had talked about it often and lamented how she would like to get it fixed, but it was becoming more and more of a death trap. That was why no one was allowed in the back parking lot these days, but I thought we would be safe.

I didn’t know Aaron was so fucking thick as to just completely ignore my warnings.

“Fuck,” I muttered and immediately broke into a sharp coughing fit as I inhaled a mouthful of the dust. Shaking my head, I slowly pushed myself up into a seated position. Therewas thankfully enough space for me to do that, but as I moved about, the softness of the ground beneath me continued to be alarmingly soft. I realized slowly that I was in a few inches of thick, muddy water. To my left, I heard trickling that was rapidly increasing in force, making the water level rise around my wrists and knees.

“Wait,” I croaked. “Wait, wait, hold on…” It was pitch black. I couldn’t see a thing so I had to feel along the hole I’d ended up in as carefully as I could. Rotten wood caved under my fingertips as I felt along the wall beside me. I moved as slowly as I could, working my way closer and closer to the sound of the water. Above me, the force of the rain bouncing off the wood and metal was creating a deafening racket, but underneath the noise, I was certain I could hear Rook’s distant tones.

Maybe that was wishful thinking.

As I moved, pains shot up my left ankle and I paused and winced.

Shit.

When I’d fallen, my ankle had turned over in my heels, and the pain was quickly making itself known despite the ice-cold water slowly rising around me.

I gritted my teeth and screwed up my eyes, waiting for the wave of pain to fade. A few heartbeats and it slowly dulled, so I continued searching for the water’s source. I turned, and ice-cold droplets sprayed onto my face, washing down my arms and chest like I’d just fallen face-first into a pile of snow. Using both hands, I followed the stream of water and found the source. The pressure against my fingertips quickly became painful because of how cold the water was, and when I pressed both hands against the gushing hole, it did nothing to stem the flow of water.

“Shit,” I croaked, turning my head away from the needle-like spray. “Think, Kitty. Think!”

My mind was quickly becoming as numb as my body. I couldn’t stop. I had to keep moving.

“Aaron?” I called, worried he had fallen in here with me. The accident had happened so fast, I couldn’t be sure. I thought I saw him dive free, but it was only a snippet before I was dragged downward. “Aaron, are you here?”

There was no answer in the darkness. Only the sound of the water spitting against the muddy pool around me. I moved away from the source and began feeling around my surroundings. Every rough plank of wood that caught on my fingertips was shoved again. Every frozen sheet of metal was pushed with all my strength. Nothing had any give, and I was rapidly losing all sensation in my lower limbs.

Am I… going to die here?

Trapped under the bar, frozen to death in this disgusting water?

I didn’t want to think about it, but once that terrifying thought entered my mind, it didn’t leave. I was kneeling and the water was up to my waist now, pouring faster and faster. My body was becoming so numb that I could no longer decipher my heartbeat, and my hands trembled with a will of their own. Within what seemed like seconds, my movements were growing stiff and jerky, like there was a delay between my thoughts and my body taking action.

“Oh, no.” I chattered, my teeth knocking together. “Not like this. Fucking hell—HELP! Someone help me! Please!”

Rook was there—right there. I knew in my heart that he would look for me, but what if he wasn’t fast enough? What if our last time spent together was me on a date with a man I couldn’t stand and Rook forever being my shadow?

“Please,” I whispered to nothing in particular. “If I get out of this, please. I won’t hide anymore. I’ll—I don’t know what I’ll do,but I will be a better person or I’ll stand up for myself more or something. I just…”

What was I doing, praying?

I’d never prayed in my life. Starting now probably wasn’t a good look to whoever lived upstairs, but I was cold, so fucking cold that it was hurting.

I wanted to go back to being numb. At least then, I couldn’t feel the thousands of ice shards embedding into my legs and calves.

My next blink was slower, and as I made it back around to where the water was rushing in, I realized I was completely and utterly trapped.

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